The Raven
So why did I choose a raven to represent me and my business? Well, lots of reasons! While my favorite animal is actually a penguin, I love the symbolism of ravens in history, myth, and prose. Beyond that, the raven has been an important part of my life and my personal history. Most notably, my Hogwarts house is Ravenclaw.
Ravenclaw values intelligence, learning, wisdom, and wit. (The Ravenclaw House mascot is actually an eagle, but we don’t need to get into that right now.) Instead of a password to enter the Ravenclaw common room, one must solve a logic riddle to be allowed entrance. In the first book of the Harry Potter series, the Sorting Hat sings a song about all of the houses.
“Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
But there’s more to the story than just my personal affinity for the Wizarding World.
Ravens are incredibly intelligent, playful, and adaptable creatures.
They can solve logic puzzles
They can recognize their own mental states (and thereby extrapolate that others have mental states too)
They remember people
They can communicate with gestures
They can imitate human speech (better than some parrots!)
They can live in a variety of habitats
They can feel and show empathy
Ravens have a rich history in lore and literature.
Some Native American tribes attribute the creation of the land and all living things to the raven, and they are thought to have supernatural intelligence.
In Norse mythology, the god Odin had two ravens that represented thought and memory. The two ravens would fly around the world each day, then report what they saw and learned back to Odin.
In Greek mythology, Apollo, the god of prophecy, sent a white raven to spy on his lover. When the raven reported that Apollo’s lover was unfaithful, Apollo scorched the raven in anger, which turned its feathers black.
The first species of bird mentioned in the Hebrew Bible is the raven. It is mentioned multiple times thereafter.
There is a legend that states the Kingdom of England will fall if the ravens of the Tower of London are removed.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a poem titled, “The Raven”. The raven mysteriously visits the protagonist, who is distraught over the loss of a loved one. The talking raven says only “Nevermore” and watches the protagonist slowly slip into madness.
fun fact: Poe was buried in Baltimore, and his poem inspired the name and colors of the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL!
These are just a few of the many examples of ravens appearing in lore and literature. Some are more focused on the raven as a harbinger of death or bad news. In some depictions, the raven is a scavenger or a trickster. If you check out the Wiki link below, you’ll see why I listed only a few examples; the Wiki page is super long!
If you’re not sure how to tell the difference between a raven and a crow, Audubon.org has a great article.
Sources:
Good Nature Travel
Mental Floss
Science Alert
Good old Wikipedia
I realize that Wikipedia is not a source, in and of itself. But this list of sources would get really long.
